With diminishing timber resources, there is an increasing demand for effective replacements of wood as a building material. The prior art methods have been either too complicated or too expensive to seriously impact the potential market. Other drawbacks with the prior art technologies are that they are cumbersome to handle, and the finished wall/roofing systems often lack aesthetic appeal.
Additionally, in conventional panelized building designs, it is often necessary use internal horizontal purlins or diagonal cross bracing to provide sufficient strength and rigidity to the structure. These required extra support members not only increase costs and reduce design options but also detract from the aesthetic appeal of the interior of the building structure.
When structural panel systems are used in a roofing or flooring application, it is desirable to provide a load-carrying capability across a given span. In a roofing application, it is also desirable to provide a sufficient pull-apart strength that will withstand uplift forces created during high wind situations. The roofing and wall panel systems should also have good insulation capability and be resistant to water leakage. It is also desirable for structural panels to be lightweight and easy to install. Further, because of the increasing costs and lack of availability of quality lumber materials, it is desirable to use as few wood components as possible. The panel system of the present invention provides all of the above-listed requirements.
The structural panel system of the present invention may have two parallel skin panels that are separated by a plurality of polymeric support members disposed therebetween. The support members may be attached to the skin panels by a very high bonding tape that has a strong adhesive on both sides and a high-strength tape material. An alternative method of attaching the skins to the support members is by the use of self-drilling, self-tapping sheet metal screws. The outer skin panel is movable relative to the inner skin panel so that no stresses are transferred to the inner skin panel that is secured to the red-iron structure. A semi-rigid core material may be injected into a space defined by the skin panels and the support members to further improve the strength of the panel system. The core material may be used to adhere the skin panels and the support members together. A decorative panel such as a cementitious panel, stucco panel, etc., may be attached to or assembled as an integral part of the outer skin member.